Considering that today is Friday and I'm just now writing for this week's "Theology Thursday" I'd say I'm a little late. I've had a few ideas on what to write about today but wasn't really settled on anything... until in my own lateness, the idea occurred to me!!
Our words carry much weight, sometimes probably more weight than we wish they did! Check out this previous blog post Toothpaste.
There are two verses in particular I'd like to discuss that talk about our words, especially in regards to promises and integrity. These verses convict me a lot of times and I think we can learn a great deal from them.
Matthew 5: 33-37 ( "Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Neither should you swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.") and James 5:12 ("But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.") both talk about our words.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me like Jesus and James are giving us a warning here. Be careful about making promises. This begs our question of, "but what if my promise is a good one like 'God I'll promise I'll read my Bible everyday' or 'Friend, I promise I'll pray for you this week'?"
I'm not sure that the actual words of the promise are what could lead to evil... I just think that we are evil. Humans are fallen creatures and even those saved by grace through faith in Christ still struggle with sin. Promises are good when coming from a perfect God. But, we are not perfect and many times are unable to keep our promises. So it is better to not make extreme promises that way we do not fall under judgement (James 5:12) or become enticed by the evil one (Matthew 5:37).
On the positive, what we can do is let our "yes be yes and our no be no" (Matthew 5:37, James 5:12). When you tell that friend you'll pray for them- do it! When you say you'll meet someone at 5 o'clock- be there! When our yes isn't yes and our no isn't no or our 5 o'clock dinner becomes a 5:15 dinner it leads to distrust and it shows a lack of integrity. Even if our intentions are pure, we are not doing what we said we would do. I'm also not talking about that one time you were late to something. This is more in regards to habitual lateness, for whatever reason, that makes you known as "the late one" to everything. Or in my case, I constantly make promises and proposals I don't keep on this silly blog! Let's do better. All that we do, the thoughts we think, and the words we say are an act of worship...the question is who or what are we worshiping? Let's worship God in how we use our words.
